Time and Time Again
by toffeecakesxox
Summary: Years come and go, but this year, Ginny Weasley has something to say about it. response to violet-phoenix-rose's Calendar Challenge. -in progress-


**notes. **Number one from violet-phoenix-rose's Calendar Challenge on the HPFC forum. Check it out! (I totally started this late, didn't I?)**  
****permanent disclaimer.** I own nothing you notice. Everything is owned by JK Rowling - the lucky woman.  
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**Time and Time Again.  
by, toffeecakesxox.  
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**_January - new; "I'm used to being lonely. It's the only thing I can rely on these days. (The loneliness, of course)."_

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_Bright red hair, glittering, chocolate brown eyes, and a shining frown.

That was the new Ginny. The Ginny six years after the war. _Six_: as in three plus three. She was a new person, nearly as new as the robes from Madam Malkin's already hung snugly in her closet as a birthday gift from Hermione.

Except there was still one thing missing, something so glaringly obvious, but something no-one wanted to mention.

Fred. No Fred. Only one twin; instead of the usual two. At the weekly Sunday Weasley family dinner, no-one spoke of it; not even Mrs. Weasley, who burst into tears even at the slightest mention of the War.

Everyone learned not to even _speak_ the word, and that was how it had been for six years.

It was January now, and Harry had disappeared off the face of the Earth—at least he had been incognito for two weeks.

Ginny was lonely because of it, usually spending most of her time in her room nowadays.

Her mother was worried, her father was worried, and _everyone_ was worried.

Everyone… everyone except Harry, it seemed.

Ron and Hermione still sent letters to him of course, and Ginny knew that they usually gave him little snippets of what she had done that day, what she was like now, and Ginny knew that Harry knew that she wasn't her normal, vivacious self anymore.

But still he didn't come.

She hated it. Hated the fact that she had to depend on Harry for her happiness—and sometimes she hated that he was so selfish… and then she realized that no, Harry was probably the least selfish man on the face of the Earth.

He loved her, at least, she hoped so, but he just didn't know how to express it, did he?

Especially since the Dursleys weren't exactly the epitome of the loving Aunt and Uncle.

So she knew why he couldn't show her how much he loved her - if he even loved her at all.

_-x-_

A knock sounded at the door and still Ginny leaned back against her pillows.

"Ginny, dear!" her Mum called out to her. "Someone's here for you!"

"Tell them I don't feel well!" she bellowed down the stairs, using her voice to resound down the stairwell.

Footsteps—not her Mum's, she knew—were heard going up the stairs and Ginny sucked in a breath.

She hadn't heard those footsteps in a while.

She'd missed those footsteps …

… She'd missed the messy, jet-black hair peering from her door, the emerald green eyes boring into hers.

"Oh, come off it, Gin. You're always well." She tried to keep from smiling at Harry, almost succeeding and then just dropping it—she gave him a full-fledged grin.

Who was she kidding? She could _never_ hate Harry - she loved him!

"How are you, Gin?"

"I missed you," she told him reluctantly, never letting her eyes leave him as he stepped toward her bed.

"I missed you too, Gin," he whispered, sitting at the feet of her bed, his eyes practically connected to hers by an invisible thread.

"Where _were_ you, Harry? I-I woke up one morning, expecting to see you right next to me, eyes closed and hair falling into your eyes, but y-you weren't there." She was really trying to keep her tears at bay, she really was, but as his frame inched ever-so-closely to hers, begging her to forgive him - all Ginny wanted was for her mouth to suddenly blurt out, "I've forgiven you already, you _prat_!" like she could've done when she was probably a year younger and not figuratively _thirty_ years older—she finally, finally, let the tears loose.

Harry paused for a second, looked at her with those handsome emerald green eyes of his and shifted the couple of inches separating them, enveloping her in his strong arms.

He buried his face in her flowery-scented, soft, red hair, resisting the urge to kiss her neck and instead leaning back and wiping the tears from her porcelain-doll face with the pads of his fingers.

"Shhh, Gin, love… shhh, I'm here now," he whispered into her ear.

"I know you are… I mean, _I was so used to being lonely. It was the only thing I could rely on these days._"

"And now?" he prompted, pulling her with him so he could hold her, but still be comfortable.

"I don't think I'm as lonely now—not with you here."

She smiled at him, and, like the first time she had smiled at him like that, he found himself falling in love with her all over again.

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_**notes. **okay, so the quotation wasn't verbatim, and the plot was pretty stupid and short, but i hope it was okay?  
i haven't exactly touched FanFiction/Harry Potter in a while.  
tell me, please, in a review?

thanks in advance,  
-**_toffeecakesxox._**

**_(Thank you to wow60 for beta-ing for me! Finally, right?)_**


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